Aubrey Plaza Takes Quite A Trip In 'Safety Not Guaranteed'

If you're unfamiliar with the actress Aubrey Plaza, you'll get a chance to see her in no fewer than four movies coming out over the next year. The first is Safety Not Guaranteed, opening this weekend. If you're not planning any trips to the theater, you can turn on the NBC comedy Parks And Recreation, where she plays a cranky, unhelpful office assistant. At 27 years old, Plaza's a specialist in playing sarcastic, disaffected young women.

But in the new film, she takes her character to a dramatically different place.

I met Aubrey Plaza over sugary drinks at a Los Angeles diner, where she even narrated our orders. "I've just ordered a Coke float," she said, "and Neda has just ordered a chocolate milkshake." In fact, in real life, she's milkshake-sweet and chatty, pointing out that they shot a scene in Safety Not Guaranteed in a very similar diner.

Plaza's character in Safety starts off a lot like April Ludgate, the ostensible crank she plays on Parks and Rec. April is snarky, depressive, deadpan. She delights her libertarian boss, the extravagantly mustachioed Ron Swanson, by creatively putting off his meetings at his city government office by, for instance, bumping his meetings to June 50th. Or to 2:65.

Plaza didn't audition to play April. She'd just gotten to Hollywood and took a meeting — just a meeting — with the guys who were then developing the show. They told her about the April character, who was originally conceived as someone very different. "It was gonna be someone that was kinda blonde, and not the brightest," Plaza says. "And I pitched to them, like, what if it was someone smart but really didn't want to be there, like a college student that just kind of needed the credits and just kind of happened upon it — 'Fine, I'll intern with the Parks Department.'"

As she later developed, April will slyly undermine her boss with a purposely mangled translation to foreign dignitaries. She sleeps at work, texts at work, ignores directions, and mocks her colleagues all while remaining studiously blank-faced. (Although the character has been known to cite her mother's Puerto Rican heritage for making her, as she puts it, "so lively and colorful.")

In real life, Plaza's father is, in fact, Puerto Rican, and her mother is white. She grew up in Delaware, studied acting at New York University, and was beginning to explore improv comedy when she had a stroke. "My two friends that were with me at the room at the time thought I was doing a bit with them. And they kept saying 'stop it,' like they thought I was joking or something."

The stroke was caused by a clot in left temporal lobe of her brain. Plaza says she's completely recovered, and the stroke, she says, at least puts Hollywood's indignities and absurdites in perspective.

Aubrey Plaza was first noticed in a web series called The Jeannie Tate Show, where she played a rebellious teenaged stepdaughter to a preening soccer mom. That led to more roles as loveably sardonic girls in movies like Funny People and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. But Plaza says she keeps getting picked for those characters because she brings nuance, and even joy, to the roles, not just a deliciously rotten attitude. "If I was playing people who hated everything and everyone, I think that would get old really fast."

For instance, on one episode of Parks And Rec, set on a night when the small town of Pawnee, Indiana was waiting for a local man's latest "End Of The World" prediction not to come true, April and her husband took a road trip that took April out of her comfort zone by making it hard for her to be irritated.

In Safety Not Guaranteed, she plays an all-too familiar millennial stereotype: a snotty intern at a alternative weekly newspaper. Just to get a story, she answers a bizarre personal ad by someone claiming he knows how to time travel and needs a companion. But when she answers the ad, she's only pretending to believe he can go back in time. The movie was actually written with Aubrey Plaza in mind.

"She's kind of perfect for it," says film critic Sam Adams, who says Safety Not Guaranteed is a charming summer romantic comedy distinguished by more than the science fiction elements. "More than having just to do with time travel," he says, "it's about having this kind of faith or belief in another person."

That's the opposite of what Aubrey Plaza has displayed in the past. She's usually making fun of faith and belief. Adams says watching her character in this movie move from cynicism to conviction is lot like watching an actress move from one kind of career to another.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

I'm Audie Cornish. And Aubrey Plaza is busy. You can catch her on TV playing a cranky unhelpful assistant on the NBC comedy "Parks and Recreation." The actress also has roles in no fewer than four movies coming out in the next year. Plaza is 27 years old and a specialist at portraying sarcastic, disaffected young women.

Case in point, she plays a sour intern in the first of those four upcoming films, "Safety Not Guaranteed," out this weekend. NPR's Neda Ulaby caught up with Aubrey Plaza at a Los Angeles diner.

AUBREY PLAZA: I've just ordered a Coke float and Neda has just ordered a chocolate milkshake.

PLAZA: You know, we shot a scene in "Safety Not Guaranteed" in a diner that's almost exactly like this.

ULABY: Plaza's character in the movie "Safety Not Guaranteed" starts off a lot like the one she plays on "Parks and Rec." April Ludgate is snarky, depressive, deadpan. She delights her libertarian boss by slyly putting off his meetings at his city government office.

(SOUNDBITE FROM "PARKS AND RECREATION")

PLAZA: (As April Ludgate) Hmm, how about June 50th?

NICK OFFERMAN: (As Rob Swanson) Sorry?

PLAZA: (As April Ludgate) Do you think you could come back today at 2:65? He's available then.

OFFERMAN: (As Rob Swanson) What's going on?

PLAZA: (As April Ludgate) Looks like the only other day he has open is March-tember 1-teenth. Does that work, sir?

ULABY: Plaza did not even audition to play April. She'd just gotten to Hollywood and took a meeting, just a meeting, with the guys then developing "Parks and Rec." They told her about the April character.

PLAZA: It was gonna be someone that was, like, kind of blonde and not the brightest person or something. And I pitched to them, like, what if it was someone that was really smart, but just like really didn't want to be there, like a college student that just kind of needed the credits and just kind of like happened upon it and was just like, fine, I'll intern with the Parks Department.

ULABY: April sleeps at work, ignores directions, mocks her colleagues.

ULABY: And she'll undermine her boss by purposefully mangling a translation to foreign dignitaries while staying studiously blank-faced.

PLAZA: My mom's Puerto Rican. That's why I'm so lively and colorful.

ULABY: Plaza's father is Puerto Rican in real life. Her mother is white. She grew up in Delaware, studied acting at New York University, and was beginning to explore improv comedy when she had a stroke.

PLAZA: My two friends that were in the room with me at the time thought I was doing, like, a bit with them. And they kept saying like, stop it, like they thought I was joking or something.

ULABY: The stroke was caused by a clot in left temporal lobe of her brain. Plaza says she's completely recovered, and the stroke, she says, at least helped her put Hollywood's indignities and absurdites in perspective. Aubrey Plaza was first noticed in a web series where she played a rebellious teenaged stepdaughter to a preening soccer mom.

(SOUNDBITE FROM "THE JEANNIE TATE SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Tina...

PLAZA: (As Tina) What?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: ...zip it.

PLAZA: (As Tina) What?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Zip it.

PLAZA: (As Tina) Why?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Shut your mouth hole.

PLAZA: (As Tina) Don't look at me.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Damn it, keep it shut.

PLAZA: (As Tina) What?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: That's the last time I'm going to tell you.

PLAZA: (As Tina) Eat your face, just eat your face.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Eat my face?

PLAZA: (as Tina) Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: What - fine.

ULABY: That led to more roles as loveably sardonic girls in movies like "Funny People" and "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World." But Aubrey Plaza says she keeps getting picked for those characters because she brings nuance, even joy, to the roles, not just a deliciously rotten attitude.

PLAZA: If I was just playing people that just hated everything and everyone, like, I think that would get old really fast.

ULABY: In her new movie, "Safety Not Guaranteed," Aubrey Plaza plays an all-too familiar millennial stereotype. She's a snotty intern at an alternative weekly newspaper. Just to get a story, she answers and criticizes a bizarre personal ad by someone claiming he knows how to time travel and needs a companion.

(SOUNDBITE FROM "SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED")

PLAZA: (As Darius) It's pretty sloppy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me?

PLAZA: (As Darius) You heard me. I hope you worked harder on your calibrations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My calibrations are flipping pinpoint, okay?

ULABY: She's only pretending to believe he can go back in time.

(SOUNDBITE OF "SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people after me. How do I know you don't work for them?

PLAZA: (As Darius) Because I've never worked for anybody in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever faced certain death?

PLAZA: (As Darius) If it was so certain, I wouldn't be here, would I?

ULABY: The movie was actually written with Aubrey Plaza in mind.

SAM ADAMS: She's kind of perfect for it.

ULABY: Film critic Sam Adams says "Safety Not Guaranteed" is a charming summer romantic comedy distinguished by more than its science fiction elements.

ADAMS: More than having just to do with time travel, it's about having this kind of faith or belief in another person.

ULABY: That's the opposite of what actress Aubrey Plaza has displayed in the past. She's usually making fun of faith and belief. Adams says in this movie, watching her character move from cynicism to conviction is a lot like watching an actress move from one kind of career to another. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.